Talbot & Draisaitl at top of playoff report card, Eberle at the bottom

Edmonton Oilers player grades for the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs

The Edmonton Oilers had their first lengthy playoff run in 11 years. In doing so, GM Peter Chiarelli and coach Todd McLellan found out a lot about their team, with the stock of some players rising high, and others dropping low.

Essentially, if you can get it done in the playoffs, you’re gold. If you can’t, you’re gone. That’s how this works, and I expect a handful of players in the bottom half of these playoff grades to be gone next year.

For this ranking, I’m using the Cult of Hockey game grading system, but applying it to the full 13-game run of the playoffs.

Cam Talbot, 8. He gave the Oilers a fighting chance to win almost every game he played, including the key Game 7 against the Anaheim Ducks. His steady play, which featured a .924 save percentage, calmed the entire team. Stole one or two wins for the Oilers on his own. Following up a strong regular season, Talbot is entrenched as the Oil’s No. 1 goalie. The team is lucky to have him there.

Leon Draisaitl, 8. When the going got tough, Draisaitl got going. Was mediocre initially against San Jose, partly because he was fighting the flu, but when Draisaitl cranked it up he proved himself to be not only a player who can drive a line forward, but also one who can carry a team on his back. Led the team with 16 points in 13 games. He contributed to 5.9 scoring chances per game, second to Connor McDavid’s 6.4 per game, but when it came to major contributions to Grade A chances, Draisaitl was best, 2.6 per game, with McDavid at 2.2 per game. In the playoffs, Draisaitl attacked better in the inner slot than he had in the regular season, when he was at 2.4 major contributions to Grade A chances per game, but McDavid dropped significantly from his 3.4 per game regular season average. Oh, and just when you thought Draisaitl couldn’t impress you more, he’s now off to the World Championships to play for Germany. He’s the Iron Man.

Oscar Klefbom, 7. Klefbom seemed to enjoy the spotlight glare of the big stage. He wasn’t quite so strong against the Ducks as he was against the Sharks, but he still played solid hockey, even nursing a nasty injury in Game 7 that had kept him out of Game 6. His shot was a lethal weapon all playoffs, his passing was first-rate, just as it had been in the regular season, but Klefbom came into his own as a defender in these playoffs. He gave little gap to attackers, took the body well and made strong reads, all things he had struggled with in the regular season. For years Edmonton has searched for a No. 1 d-man. It looks like Klefbom will be that player. I should say that I wasn’t sure Klefbom would develop this much, this fast, but 201 games into his NHL career he’s taken a major step up.

Adam Larsson, 7. He was a force on the blueline, hitting, passing, taking on tough competition and consistently holding his own. As good as Taylor Hall is at attacking, that is how good Larsson is at the dark arts of defence.

Connor McDavid, 7. If there was a stat line that summed up a player, it’s Connor McDavid’s 9 points in 13 games. That would be damn good for most players in the playoffs. But McDavid? It’s a disappointment. As mentioned, he simply could not find a way to work his way into the inner slot for as many deadly passes and dangerous shots in the playoffs as he was able to do in the regular season. Part of this, no doubt, was because he faced maybe the league’s top checker in Ryan Kesler against Anaheim and the league’s most clever defensive d-man in Marc-Edouard Vlasic against San Jose. On defence, McDavid also struggled, leaking far more chances against than he did in the regular season. All that said, he was still Connor McDavid, a constant threat, an object of obsession to the opposition, and he had plenty of strong moments in the playoffs.

Matt Benning, 7. After fading in the second half of the regular season, Benning found his game in the playoffs. For an NHL rookie, he sure looked like a veteran. He moved and shot the puck smartly, took the man consistently and led the team in hits with 4.0 pe game (next best were Larsson, 3.2 per game, Lucic, 2.7. Maroon, 2.6, Kassian, 2.3 and Caggiula, 1.9). Has staked a claim to playing on the Oil’s second pairing on the right side next year.

Patrick Maroon, 7. He hit, he made plays, he defended well and he was the Oil’s best winger in the playoffs. Not bad for a guy that another team was so keen to get rid of, they are still paying 1/4 of his salary.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 6. There are folks lumping in RNH with Jordan Eberle and Benoit Pouliot in their scorched earth criticism of certain well-paid Oilers forwards. I think this critique is utterly misguided. Yes, RNH went scoreless in 13 playoff games, just like Eberle and Pouliot, but RNH created far more chances than the other two and was solid in his own end, often against tough competition. He was crucial in handling Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture and Joe Thornton against San Jose, earning high praise from his coach. He struggled a bit with Ryan Getzlaf, but which Oilers centre did not? RNH made a major contribution 2.1 Grade A chances per game, third to McDavid at 2.2 and Draisaitl at 2.6. The puck didn’t bounce his way around the net, but he looked like a $6 million player. Maybe give him some better wingers and he’ll put up more points. So why just give him a grade of six out of 10? While I can forgive RNH for not scoring in 13 games, he still failed to score in 13 games.

Kris Russell, 6. Of course Russell led the team in blocked shot, 4.2 per game (Klefbom was next at 2.3 per game, then Sekera and Larsson, 2.0 per game). Many of Russell’s blocks were absolute show-stopping and winning plays, key blocks at key moments. He was a cagey defender throughout, breaking up plays here, there and everywhere with a good stick. He’s marked down a bit, though, because he’s at best an over-cautious, unaggressive puck mover and he leaked a few too many scoring chances against, especially against San Jose, for my liking.

Zack Kassian, 6. Oh what a series he had against San Jose, charging around, scoring big goals, hitting the hell out of star Sharks players. But Kassian was far less of a force against the Ducks. In fact, he disappeared at times. That said, he was always there to land a big hit and stand up for a teammate. A solid effort from a third-line winger overall, a player who has surely carved out a spot for himself on the Oilers.

Mark Letestu, 6. As good as he was on the power play — where he was superlative — Letestu wasn’t great at even strength. In fact, he wasn’t even average. He struggled at times to contain opposing forwards around the Oilers net. He made one of the most unforgettable mistakes of these playoffs as well, failing to clear the puck with seconds left in Game 5, just before Anaheim held open Cam Talbot’s legs to score the crucial tying goal. On the plus, plus, plus side, Letestu was second on the team with 11 points in 13 games, and chipped in on more power play scoring chances, 31, than anyone else, with McDavid and Draisaitl at 30 each.

Drake Caggiula, 5. He didn’t score much, just 3 points in 13 games, but when he was put up on McDavid’s line, he looked right at home. He played a fast, smart, skilled and aggressive game and was the Oil’s third best winger, after Maroon and Kassian. Edmonton has a keeper here, a player who might just find his way into the Top 6 at forward next year.

Anton Slepyshev, 4. He had his moments on the attack, mainly due to his hustle and puck protecting skills, but also fought the puck enough that his point production wasn’t strong. He also struggled to make the right reads on defence. But his energetic play has certainly made him a fan favourite and put him in the running for regular work next year.

David Desharnais, 4. Scored some key goals, as he made the most of his limited scoring chance opportunities. He played better as the playoffs rolled along, but he was still a limited player due to his lack of size and speed. Did he do enough to earn another contract from the Oilers? Likely it’s time to make way for younger, bigger, faster options at forward.

Andrej Sekera, 4. Was trending up against the Ducks when he got injured, but didn’t play his best hockey in the playoffs. Was more tentative with the puck and more prone to making defensive errors, especially against the Sharks, than he had been in the regular season. Indeed, Sekera was the Oil’s best defenceman in the regular season, but wasn’t at his best in the heavy going of the playoffs.

Milan Lucic, 4. On the plus side, he hit, hit, hit and hit some more. He provided an element of toughness to a team that needed it. He was also OK in the net-front job on the power play. But he looked a step slow these playoffs and made far too many major defensive mistakes, especially for a winger.

Benoit Pouliot, 4. Pouliot had a few good games against the Ducks, but it was too little, too late. His decent work on the penalty kill saves him from a lower mark, but too often he was content to coast and stick check, rather than get his body in there to win the puck. After a weak regular season, it’s likely time for him to try and find his game again in another NHL city.

Darnell Nurse, 4. Nurse struggled with moving the puck. But then, Nurse was never consistently the same player after coming back in early March from a major ankle injury. In the playoffs he had great spurts, where he looked like the increasingly sound and confident Nurse we had seen in November, when he was on the verge of earning a job in the Top 4. The good news is that Nurse has exceptional tools, he’s played just 128 NHL games, and he’s willing to put in the work to get better, as he did last summer training with Adam Oates. With more of the same, he’s a lock to help the Oilers in coming years.

Jordan Eberle, 3. On the plus side, he played solid two-way hockey against San Jose and tried to get involved physically. On the down side, he’s a scorer who not only didn’t score, he did not create much either. He chipped in with major contributions on just 0.9 Grade A chances per game, after being at 1.7 in the regular season. Eberle lacked the size, speed and nerve to penetrate the inner slot in the playoffs. Since his shoulder injury in the fall of 2015, that ability to consistently drive the net and pick the top shelf has gone missing from Eberle’s game. Without it, he’s not a Top 6 NHL forward.

The congrats to the Ducks and congrats to the Oilers podcast

In the end, the Ducks were clearly the better team in Game 7, winning the clinching game. But were they the better team in the series. The Cult of Hockey’s David Staples and Bruce McCurdy dig into the refereeing, McDavid and Draisaitl vs Kesler and Getzlaf, and some disappointing play from some big ticket Oilers.

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